Released in 1960
Genre- Drama, Realistic
10/10
Main Cast: Supriya Choudhury, Anil Chatterjee, Bijon Bhattacharya, Gita Dey, Gita Ghatak, Niranjan Ray, Dwiju Bhawal.
Screenplay: Ritwik Ghatak
(Based on “Meghe Dhaka Tara”, the novel by Shaktipada Rajguru)
Music- Jyotirindra Moitra
Direction- Ritwik Ghatak
BRIEF INTRODUCTION The story revolves around the life and struggles of a selfless young girl whose sacrifices are taken for granted by everyone around her. Like a lifeless thing, she is just treated like a working machine, even by her family.
Notes on the film One of the finest films that I have seen. Meghe Dhaka Tara is not just a film, it’s an experience of how the so-called practicality in the world has taken over love, warmth, relationships, and values. Nothing matters to the world more than selfish objectives. It never even acknowledges or values the contributions and sacrifices of a person, an innocent, selfless girl in this film, not even her own family. The sound of whiplash in the background music is used very uniquely by Ghatak, to describe the emotional damage done to Nita.
Nita The only people who care about Nita are her father and brother. The father (portrayed by Bijon Bhattacharya), due to an accident, is not able to do much for her daughter or the financial condition of his family. And Nita’s almost absent brother (played by Anil Chatterjee) is often lost in his world of music.
Ritwik Ghatak The Extraordinaire This was my first interaction with Ritwik Ghatak’s work. Before this, I didn’t know much about Ghatak’s work except that he wrote the popular and acclaimed 1958 film Madhumati’s screenplay and after watching Meghe Dhaka Tara, I realized that Ritwik Ghatak is one gem that our industry should be immensely proud of. His style of telling a story is very simple but the way he uses themes, sub-themes, cinematography, and music in his screenplay is something worth appreciating.
P.S. The film also features a song by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore.
Leave a Reply